Far-red organic fluorophores contain a fluorescent impurity

Chemphyschem. 2014 Aug 4;15(11):2240-6. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201402002. Epub 2014 Apr 29.

Abstract

Far-red organic fluorophores commonly used in traditional and super-resolution localization microscopy are found to contain a fluorescent impurity with green excitation and near-red emission. This near-red fluorescent impurity can interfere with some multicolor stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy/photoactivated localization microscopy measurements in live cells and produce subtle artifacts in chemically fixed cells. We additionally describe alternatives to avoid artifacts in super-resolution localization microscopy.

Keywords: fluorescence; fluorescent probes; live cells; quantitative imaging; super-resolution imaging.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Artifacts
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Coloring Agents / chemistry*
  • Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry*
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Mice
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence / methods

Substances

  • Coloring Agents
  • Fluorescent Dyes